Drier for dough strings fed thereto and cut into portions looped on bars



July 23, 1940- E. GIEZENDANNER 2,208,900

lDRIER FOR DOUGH STRINGS FED THERETO AND CUT INTO PORTONS 4LOOPED ON BARS Filed June 14, 1939 Patented July 23, 1940 'd rvUNITEDsrATEs PATENT OFFICE l j asoasfm'` f" DRIER Fon DoUGH STRINGS FED THERETO AND CUT INT0 roR'rIoNs LooPEn 0N BARS i `Emil Giezendanner, Uzwil, Switzerland, assignerr to Gebrder Bhler, Uzwil, Switzerland Application June 14, 1939, Serial No. 279,183

In Germany April 8, 1939` s claims. (c1.` iov-7) distances apart, twith a view to completely utilizingf`the`avai1able`space presented by the bars,

e and `that these'portions shall be of equal lengths throughout, this being essential not only for the complete. utilization `of the available space of the drying chambers but also for the satisfactory packaging1 of ,the` flour paste articles.`

, 11n thepast, it was usual to distribute the our pastearticles` to the bars of the `grate by hand and -ytdprovidea small Iexcess-.length for the stringportons, in order to provide for cutting these portions into a uniform length only after they have-beenarranged. This mode of procedure `has the disadvantage of requiring a considerablaamountof hand yWork, which is undesirable for hygienicreasons. Furthermore, much loss'iby waste issuffered by` the trimming of the ends :of` `,the :stringi portions. l fr Theobject of the present invention is to avoid these' drawbacks by` looping the strings of flour pa'stearti'cle's fed I-at a uniform speed on the bars automatically,` Without handling they material.

1 'This is accomplished in the dough string drier, according" to theinvention, by arranging in adv ance of "af movable drying grate provided With loosely inserted barson which the dough strings are'tof be hung adevice for successively supplying said bars asthey are to be inserted toward the grate, which device cooperates with a dough string deflectingl device which automatically loops thedough strings onthe bar last inserted in theg'rate, prior to the `dough strings being cutinto string portions.

"Inthe accompanying drawing an embodiment ofthe inventionjis illustrated by way of example only,A in` which" I y Fig. l1v is. a `vertical longitudinal sectional view of Lthel drier on the line I-I in Fig. 2; l 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II in Fig. l; L, Fig. 3 is a view of ademt `of Fig. 1 with certain parts in ieliiie'renjf, positions;

Fig. 4 is a viewof a `part of the drier as seen from the left hand side of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional part view on the line V-V in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, the drieris provided 5 l.

Witha machine `frame I in which a grate'bar supply device `2 is arranged `which is associated with a bar magazine 3 connected with the bar supply device `through a delivery chute 4. The

machine frame further carries a dough string 10- deecting device 5, a movable grate 1 formed of loosely inserted carrier bars 6 on which the dough strings are looped, an oblong entrance funnel 8 for guiding the dough strings supplied to the drier in a roW of spaced string portions I5;

through a sizing head 8 of a machine for producingflour paste articles (not shown). With` the funnel 8 is associated an upper cutter blade 9 extending longitudinally `thereof and reciproeating transversely to the longitudinal direction 20 of the blade. In the lower part of the machine frame l is arranged a lower vertically adjustable cutter blade l0 so as to be reciprocable trans-` verselyto the row of dough? strings;

The relative arrangement of the devices 2 to 25 4, 5, l and is such that the bar supply device 2, which releasesl the bars automatically from the bar magazine 3 to 'which the bars arecontinually'supplied by means not shown and slide down through thedelivery chute 4V by gravita- 30 tional action, is positioned in advance of the movable grate. This bar supply device cooper- `ates with the dee'cting device 5 in such manner.

that the `device 5 automatically loops the dough strings fed onthat bar `of the series of bars 35 successively 'suppliedto the grate by the bar supply device which is last inserted in the grate before the string sections to be dried are severe from the strings by the upper knife 9.

To this end the exit of the chute 4 overlies two discs 2 provided `with circumferential notches Il which discs are arranged on a common shaft 42 and disposed on both sides of the machine frame interiorly thereof. The notches H provided in the discs 2 are of a shape corresponding to that of thebars 6 and oppose each other in the axial direction so that each pair oi opposing notches is adapted to receive the ends of a bar 6 sliding down through the magazine 3. Within each sector of the discs 2 defined by two 50 adjacent notches Il a roller l2 is arranged, the pairs of oppositely disposed rollers on the two discs cooperating successively With two levers I5 which are rockably mounted on bolts l`3 Within the machine `frame on'both sides of the latter,

y exteriorly of the discs 2, and are loaded by springs I4.

Two lever arms 5', which are swingably mounted in the frame I and the outer ends of which are bent toward the notched discs are interconnected by a rod I6 s0 that a stirrup-like deflecting device'is formed thereby, which enters between the notched discs when swinging toward the front end of the drier, to the left in Fig. 1. The movable grate 1 is provided with two linkchain-like conveyor members1'which run over sprocket wheels that are mounted in the interior of the machine frame laterally thereof, the front rollers being mounted on the shaft 42 Aof the bar supply device beyond the range of movement of the rollers I2. The links 1 of the conveyor chains 1 are provided with recesses at the circumference of these chains for clampingly holding the ends of the grate bars 6 and thereby. preventing the bars from rotating about their axes. The drive of the movablegrate is positively effected from the bar supply device-and thus in time' with the discs 2, due to the fact that the front sprockets of the conveyor chains are xed to the shaft 42.

Hereinafter the driving arrangement of the drier will be more explicitly described.

This arrangement is driven by a driving device composed of an electric motor I1 and a gearing I1 the speed of which is infinitely variable through the intermediary of a pair of gears I8 and a counter drive shaft I9, the speed of which in turn is dependent uponthe velocity at which the dough strings emanate fromthe sizing head 8' and'upon the length required for the string portions. The shaft I9 makes one revolution during the time required for the operation of hanging a grate bar with string portions.

The shaft 42 is driven by the shaft I9 by means of an intermittent or Maltesian drive 35, 31. The

. armed lever 38 the two short arms of which each carry a guide roller 39 which rollers cooperate withl two cams 35, 35', respectively, which are so shaped that the lever 38 rocks positively to and fro' during each rocking movement `of the shaft 42, thereby moving the lever arm and thus the stirrup-shaped deecting device, by

-fnected to a backing plate 9 of the cutter blade means of link 49, lever arm 4I and rocking shaft 43, toward the front and into the full line position in Fig. 1 and back again into its chaindotted inoperative position in time with the driving arrangement of the drier.

On the shaft 42 is loosely mounted a pinion 2l to which are connected two cams 22, 22' each cooperating with a three-armed rocking lever 23 by means of two guide rollers 24, 24', respectively,

each mounted on one of the shorter arms of this lever. The longer arm of the lever 23 carries a toothed portion meshing with a bevel gear pinion 25 rotatably mounted inla bearing 25 and carrying a crank arm 26 which is pivotally con- 9. The pinion 2l cooperates with a toothed portion 2D of a wheel IV21'! which is fixed to the shaft I9. The intermittent or Maltesian drive comprising the wheels 20, 2| is so designed that Y as the shaft I9 makes one revolution the pair of cams 22, 22' rocks through an angular range of only 180. Therefore, the cutter blade 9, which is guided in parallelism with the funnel 8 by means of a crank arm 26 mounted on the frame I in opposition to the crank 26 (Fig. 2), is positively driven by the driving arrangement of the drier to move through one traverse andthus to perform a single cutting operation at each revotion of the shaft I9 by action of one of the cams Consequently, the cutter blade 9 returns into initial position by action of the other cam only during the time in which the next grate bar is charged with dough material.

The lower cutter blade IIJ can also be positively actuated in time with the driving arrangement of the drier by means of a chain drive 21, 28 interposed between the pair of cams 22, 22', to which the chain wheel 21 is fixed, and a transmission wheel 29 cooperating with a toothed disc 30 fixed to a shaft 32 and forming a crank drive together with a connecting rod 3 (Figs. 1 and 2). On the opposite end of the shaft 32 is mounted a corresponding crank drive 30', 3l' (Figs. 2 and 5). The crank drives 30, 3I and 3U', 3|' act on a support of the cutter blade I by means of the connecting rods 3|, 3|' for reciprocating this support longitudinally of the machine frame I in lateral guides I0 thereof so that when the chain drive 21, 28 is connected (by coupling means not shown) the ends of the string portions looped 0n the bars 6 can be trimmed. Since the arrangement is such that the cutter blade I0 completes a reciprocating movement while the pair of cams22, 22 makes one` revolution, this trimming operation is effected in time with the 0peration of inserting the bars 6 in the movable grate.

The infinitely variable speed gearing I1 serves for adapting the speed of the drier to the velocity at which the dough strings are supplied by the machine producing the same, in order to provide for a uniform length of string portions discharging from the drier during the whole time of operation thereof without extra trimming of the string ends being required.

The operation of the drier is as follows:

At the Abeginning of a turning movement of the notched discs 2 in the clockwise direction in Fig. 1, after the dough strings A have been projected out of the entrance vfunnel 8 for a certain length, the bar 6, having slid down into one of the notches I I of the discs 2 then underlying the exit of the chute 4, is moved in time with these discs while the other bars present in the chute are retained therein by the edge of the discs wiping across the said exit. Since the rollers I2 move in unison with the discs 2 the lever I5 at first remains with its outer surface beneath the path of the bar 6 supplied by the chute 4,- due to the action of th tension spring I4 urging the lever on the respective roller I2, whereby the latter cooperates with the inner side of the lever I forming a cam guide forthis roller (Fig. 3).

As the turning movement of the lever I5 toward its position `shown in-Fig. 1 is continued, the bar 6 is lifted out of the notches of the discs 2 and is moved toward the web A of dough strings fed to such an extentv that this bar slides down into the recesses in the respectivel two opposing chain links 1' of the link-chains 1. By this means the webof dough strings is deflected from the vertical position into an oblique position which extends tangentially of the circumference of the gratebar 6 last inserted in the link-chains. At the same time thev stepwise turning movement 0f the notched discs is' interrupted.

\ bar 9.

Thereupon, the deflector stirr'up 5 starts to rock in the counterclockwise direction as shown in Fig. 4, so that the rod I6 engages the'web of doughfrom the side opposite to that on which l it had been engaged by the slidingly descending bar 6, thereby deecting the continuously moving web of dough across this bar. On the web of dough thus having been looped on the bar 6, thedeflector stirrup 5 rocks back into its initial position shown in chain-dotted lines in Figs. 1 and `4, whereupon the strings are cut into portions of the required length by the upper cutter In starting the drier, it frequently happens that, while the parts of the same contacting with the ourlpaste material are not yet sufficiently heated, the dough strings fed in spaced relation f strings travel at a satisfactorily uniform velocity,

the drier is adjusted for having the grate bars hung with string portions of required length, and the lower cutter blade is set at rest.

The cutter blade last referred to may also `be used when a uniformity of length of the string` portions of such a high 4degree of accuracy is required as can not be obtained by means of the other parts of the drier alone. The lower cutter blade l0 for cutting the "string portions to a uniform length, which as aforesaid is arranged in the frame l so as to be adjustable as to height, can be adjusted to various different lengths of string portions.

On arriving at the delivery end of the drying grate 'I the bars charged with dough material are automatically pushed from the recesses in the links of the link-chains by means of wedge-like members 7" which are arranged at this end of the grate so as to allow the grate bars to ride up on these members with their ends after having been pushed out of the recesses. In this way all risk of the'bars being jammed is obviated.

Alternatively, the bar supply device maybe continuously driven instead of intermittently as hereinbefore described.`

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for producing dried dough" of said web toward said grate `and setting said outer shanks in final position of drying on the bar last inserted in said grate, a deflecting device for looping said strings backwardly over said last inserted bar thereby forming inner shanks` of said loops prior to said loops being cut to length, and holding means on said grate for clamping said bars to said grate `with said inner shanks also depending from said clampedbars in iinal position of drying.

2. In an apparatus for producing dough strings` such as spaghetti and macaroni, an Aextrusion head having a plurality of sizing openings for feeding dough strings in a web of spaced strings, a movable drying grate, loose grate bars insertable in said grate for being conveyed toward the delivery end of the apparatus, a grate bar supply device arranged in advance of said grate, a pair of rotatable notched bar carrier'discs successively moving said bars in contact with the depending outer shanks of said strings beyond the plane of said web toward said grate and setting said outer shanks in final position of drying on the bar last inserted in said grate, an oscillatory `deflecting device oscillating in time with the advancing movement of said supply device and loopingsaid strings backwardly over said last inserted bar thereby forming inner shanks on said loops, a cutting device oscillating in time with the advance movement of said supply device and cutting said loops to length after `said deiiecting device has completed its backward swing, and

holding means on said` grate for securing said bars to said grate with said inner shanks also depending from said clamped bars in iinal position of drying.

3. In an apparatus for producing dough strings i such as spaghetti and macaroni, an extrusion head having a plurality of sizing openings for feeding dough strings in a web of spaced strings, a movable drying grate, loose grate bars insertable in said grate for being conveyed toward the delivery end of the apparatus, a grate bar supply device, arranged in advance cf said grate, positively moving n timed` relation with said grate f and successively advancing said bars into contact withthe dependingouter shanks of said strings beyond the plane of said web toward said grate and setting said outer shanks in nal position of drying on the bar last inserted in said grate, a deflecting device positively moving in timed relation with said grate and looping said strings backwardly over said last inserted bar thereby forming inner shanks on said loops, a cutting device positively oscillating in timed relation with said grate for cutting said loops to a predetermined length from the dough strings fed after said deflecting device has completedits backward swing, a drive for driving said grate at an innitely variable speed in adaptation to the velocity of said dough strings fed, and means on said grate for securing said bars tor said grate with said inner shanks also depending from said clamped bars in nal position of drying.

` EMIL GIEZENDANNER. 

